Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/27653
New role-based security models and self-service capabilities, together with the new Exchange Control Panel, have enabled administrators to simplify the management of their Exchange infrastructure, greatly improving administrator and end-user productivity. In addition, the ability to move mailboxes while users are still online means that more system maintenance can take place during office hours, reducing the requirement for out-of-hours work for IT staff. Exchange 2010 delivers a 70 percent reduction in I/O compared to Exchange 2007, and a 90 percent decrease from Exchange 2003. This allows greater deployment flexibility, and facilitates better use of existing storage infrastructure, which gives IT managers the option to use previously unavailable lower-cost storage systems. Not surprisingly, many In addition to this, they must take into account the added complexity of managing the ancillary e-mail systems that exist around the mail server. During the migration process, administrators organizations running on earlier versions of Exchange, or messaging platforms from other vendors, are keen to take advantage of these new features, and are considering how best to move to Exchange 2010. maintenance can take place during office hours.” “More system MIGRATION CHALLENGES Before moving to Exchange 2010, IT managers need to identify and assess the additional risks that could be introduced during the migration process, such as: • E-mail downtime • Data loss • Interruptions to policy enforcement • Cost escalation must break down an operational system, and ultimately replace it with Exchange 2010. This process naturally exposes the organization to an increased likelihood of e-mail downtime, which could result in reduced employee productivity, dissatisfied customers, lost business and even damage to reputation. It is therefore desirable to have in place an e-mail continuity solution that will take over during any planned (or unplanned) periods of e-mail downtime. The migration requires data to be moved from one system to another, so the risk of losing or corrupting data is greatly heightened during this process. Were this to happen to important commercial or sensitive information, the financial and legal repercussions could be significant. By the same token, the larger the volume of data to be moved, the longer the migration will take and the greater the chance that something will go wrong. Consequently, organizations should consider ways they can reduce the amount of stored data before embarking on the migration process. The success of the migration can also be threatened by a failure to consider the broader e-mail infrastructure, such as antivirus, antispam, data leak prevention, encryption and archiving solutions. These systems form a fragile ecosystem www.iltanet.org Exchange 2010 27